the blog

FPN will take you along a journey of cheap eats, fine dining and anything else in between. I do love to cook so the occasional recipe will be thrown in for good measure. Tried and tested of course! Enjoy x

I love pasta and pesto. As a combination of the two or in two separate counterparts. I love it.

Ever since I have discovered a delicious way of enjoying pasta without the calories and carbs, aka zucchini pasta. I have been on the hunt for a delicious basil pesto recipe to go with it, that doesn’t sacrifice on flavour and is low in calories. A perfect 5:2 diet recipe!

I am happy to report, that I have finally found the one! Courtesy of Weight Watchers I’ve adapted their recipe. I skip the toasting of the pine nuts completely and just blitz all the ingredients.

I’ve started on the 5:2 diet and I have been sharing on my instagram @foodpornnation what I eat on feast days and 5:2 diet recipes on my fast days. Essentially you consume a quarter of your calorie intake to receive the benefits of fasting rather than actually having to fast (no eating). On the upside, you get to have your cake and eat it too!

Scientific trials of intermittent fasting showed that the benefits include lowering your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, alzheimer’s/dementia & what we all love to hear, WEIGHT LOSS!

For ladies, this means consuming 500 calories and for gents 600 calories for two non-consecutive days. On other days, there is no calorie restrictions. You can eat your ice cream, burgers and cheese and enjoy all these health benefits as long as you do not overindulge too much, which is ideal for a foodie like me. It sounds a little crazy but when you watch the documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer you will be pleasantly surprised – click here to watch. Dr Michael Moseley and Mimi Spencer, subsequently released The Fast Diet Book, which is also very compelling. It will change your life as it has changed mine. This is something I will adopt for the rest of my life, this I am certain of.

500 calories probably sounds a little steep, but I have found if you are smart and spend your calories wisely, it is very achievable. So far, I am really enjoying the challenge of coming up with recipes that are delicious and fit in with my fast days. All of which I will begin sharing with you.

After a number of requests on my instagram account, I thought it was time I share my zucchini lasagne recipe with you! This has past the boy test, who is my biggest critic and also happens to hate zucchini. He loves it, I love it and I know you will love it too. What I love about this recipe is that it tastes exactly like a lasagne. I don’t feel like I am missing out. It is packed full of vegetables and nutrition, coming in with a total of 7 vegetables. The zucchini sheets taste and feel exactly like pasta. I can promise that you will not even notice the difference between zucchini lasagne sheets and proper pasta lasagne sheets. The béchamel sauce has been replaced with low fat ricotta and parmesan on top. Otherwise, you can make a cauliflower béchamel based sauce as a healthy alternative and layer that on top.

This zucchini lasagne is low calorie, low carb, gluten free and absolutely guilt free. Each slice is 185 calories. Perfect for 5:2 diet followers. Unless you would prefer a large slice, this still comes in at 250 calories. So women can have 2 large slices for lunch and dinner and there is your fast day done! Just divide the lasagne into 6 portions instead of the suggested 8. I threw in some eggplant as an experiment to increase my vegetable intake. The result was an even richer and meatier meat filling. It is so delicious I will never make it without eggplant again. If you want to go completely vegetarian just replace the meat with more eggplant or any other vegetables.